Tonolá!

I have been very busy this weekend!  Anway, Louise and I went to Tonolá today to do some shopping!  Tonolá is the town about forty five minutes outside the GDL centro where all the local artisans live/work/and sell their goods.  Needless to say, it was absolutely incredible.  If I was to guess, I would say the main strip was about fifteen to twenty blocks long, plus all the side streets that were also filled.  Filled you may be asking.  Yes.  FILLED.  As in stands on the sidewalks on both side of the street, and on both sides of the side walks.  So if this makes sense, it went like this: street, row of tents with goods, two-foot-wide pathway, another row of tents with goods, another two-foot-pathway, and then actual buildings with more stores (and then repeat this scenario on the other side of the street as well.  It was nuts.  And apparently really hard to explain.  But you seriously couldn't even take a picture of this madness.  It wouldn't do it justice at all.  Anyway, it's a good thing I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to buy, other wise I would have got crazy!  I ended up buying this absolutely amazing red, embossed, leather purse.  Gorgeous (and hand made in Mexico)!!  It was really expensive, but worth it I think.  I also bought a similar one for my mom in black.  Then I bought some super traditional clay mugs because they just scream Mexico to me, and when I'm at home enjoying my Mexican hot chocolate, I want to be able to do it with my Mexican mug :)  And then there's my impulse buy . . .lol.  You always have to have one of those, right?  I ended up buying this stunning mirror.  It has this amazing silver frame with a flower design.  But the cool thing is it had like this arched french doors on it, so you open the doors, and there's the mirrors. (There's three of them, the center one, and then one on the inside of each door.)  It was just too great--not to mention outrageously low priced.  So I bought it.  I'm still kind of wondering how I'm going to get it home because it is a little big.  Originally, I was just going to ship all my purchases home, but now that some of them are larger than I was planning on, I'm starting to think it might just be more economical to buy another suitcase.  I'll have to see how much it costs to ship; that will be my new project for the week--in addition to studying for my second set of finals!!  Yep that's right!  This will be week ten of my trip = end of my second session of classes, and the completion of 2/3 of my trip.  Which is good and bad.  Don't get me wrong, this has been such a wonderful experience, not only to improve my Spanish, but to learn about myself, to truly do something independently, and that kind of thing.  But what I've learned is that I'm more of a family and friends oriented person (and Nebraska girl) than I thought.  I miss home, and although this has been the adventure of a lifetime, it still doesn't hold a candle to the life I know is waiting for me.

(Sorry.  That was a total run-on paragraph.)

Guachimintones!

Today I went to the ancient ruins of Gauchimontones about an hour and a half outside of Guadalajara.  It was so COOL!  They were these circular step pyramids build around the time that Christ was living--so we're looking at over two thousand year old structures!  I was just in awe of them.  The only bad part was that all the guides were occupied giving tours to this group of high school students.  We tried to just jump in and tag along with one of the groups, but the students were so rude and talked over the guide the whole time, so I could hardly pick up what he was saying.  One of the things I did catch, though, was something about how all the numbers of rings and pyramids signifies something.  Like when you add up the number of levels on the main pyramid with the number of rings around it, (or something like that) it adds up to the number of full moons in a year.  The guide also said that the three main pyramids are also in the exact same configuration as the pyramids in Egypt.  Obviously their not as big or have as much distance between them, but the angles are the same.  I think it is just so amazing that cultures on opposite ends of the earth would be so inspired by the sky and so smart to use it as a template and build off it.  It was all super interesting.  Not only that an ancient culture could physically build these things, but that they were advanced enough to calculate everything out so exactly so that every little detail had a purpose.  I just can't even imagine. . . Plus the scenery was absolutely stunning.  This was the first time in eight weeks that the air didn't smell like smog and sewers.  In fact, it smelled almost exactly like Nebraska at this time of year on a nice, warm day.  It was wonderful; it made me feel like I was at home again :)  All in all a wonderful and fascinating day!

Friday!!!

Yesterday in the afternoon I went to the Día de Muertos Tiangüis = Day of the Dead open-air market.  Where the sell everything you need to celebrate your dead ancestors with success!  Seriously.  They had food, flowers, tons of the candy sugar skulls (see photo), banners (which I bought plenty of for my future classroom), toys, and everything else you could imagine, all with a colorful, skeleton theme!  It was great.  And I tried a gordita for the first time too!  Basically it's like doughnut dough, but it's placed on a skillet, so it's not fried and there's no icing.  It's like a doughnut flavored English muffin :) Delicious!  And the best part is Anita is going to show me how to make them on Tuesday.  Score!

Yesterday evening I spent reading, and then after dinner, ended up talking with Anita and Lulu for like, two and a half hours about all sorts of things.  It was wonderful to actually have a conversation with them. (my abuelita is gone for the weekend, and they told me that she doesn't like them socializing with us--which I can totally see--I think she kind of a class system in her head) Anyway, besides the fact that it was wonderful practice for my Spanish, they are such sweethearts, I can't wait to talk to them every day now.

Tango-Ballet!

Last night I went to a show at the Teatro Diana.  It was of the Mora Godoy Tango Company . . . apparently something rather famous in the tango world.  It was really interesting.  It was only four couples plus Mora and her partner, so five couples in all.  The tango was absolutely stunning, plus they did a lot of lifts (I think that's where the ballet comes in?) so it was all really impressive.  And we (Louise and I) ended up with better seats than we had paid for because the show wasn't sold out, so they moved us from the first balcony to the main floor.  They were actually practically perfect seats!  The only bad parts were that 1) they started almost a half hour late (Oh Mexico, your lack of punctuality never fails to annoy me; maybe someday I will adjust to your mentality of time . . .) and 2) the couple seated next to me kept talking the whole time.  The lady was even on her cell phone at one point!  I realize that the culture is different, but seriously!  But my abuelita backed me up, she said that that was totally ridiculous and I should have said something to her.  Then she went on a tangent about how the people that used to go to the theater were really high-class and cultured, but now it's just all the daughters of the narco-traffickers that think it would be fun.  Lol, I don't think they lady next to me was the daughter of a narco-trafficker, but it was funny to hear my abuelita accuse her of it :)  All in all a very nice time--but whenever I see a show like this, it always makes me want to dance like that . . . but then I realize I can't, and it makes me sad.  I guess I'll just have to live vicariously through my sister!

San Nicolas de Bari

Actually the name of the church.  But also how they refer to the fabulous food market located in the park across the street on Monday evenings.  Can we say, "Hello weeks worth of calories in one meal!"?  Yes, we can, lol.  Seriously, my abuelita bought us (Louise and me) some pan dulces, so I got an empañada filled with cream and a really big sugar cookie type thing.  Then I bought myself these little tacos that were also delicious.  And when I saw that Louise had purchased this hot drink called "atole", of course I had to get one too.  I kid you not it was hot, liquidy, crem brule.  That rich, sweet, and decedent, but in sippable form.  Delicious!  I even went so far as to dip pieces of my sugar cookie in my cup of atole.  Yeah, I'm that fat kid, lol.  But it was sooooo good--I just couldn't help myself!  Then on top of all that my abuelita went and bought this strawberry dessert tomale (which I already knew I don't really like) and made us share it with her.  She is so nice I couldn't say no, but I was already sooooo beyond full.  Oh my gosh my stomach is still in shock of the sugar I've consumed tonight.  After we finish our less than balanced meal, we went to the San Nicolas de Bari church for mas with my abuelita.  It was interesting.  Long, but interesting :)  All in all a very cultural (not to mention (again) delicious) Monday evening!

Tequila!!!

Finally took the day trip to Tequila!  And as one would expect, it was super fun.  First we stopped at one of the agave fields (the plant that tequila is made from) which happened to be almost right at the base of this volcano--so the land was really fertile--but there were also obsidian rocks everywhere!  So naturally, I picked up a few specimens, and I'm pretty darn excited about it.  Anyway, at the field they showed us how they plant the agave, how they cut it back, and of course how they harvest it.  We got to taste the part they use to make the tequila, which is basically this white, really dense and tough, cabbage flavored substance.  Less than delicious, but still worth tasting.  Then they let us try this creme that the workers made from the leaves of the plant.  It was probably one of the best moisturizers I've ever put on my skin! Ugh, it was nice.  I wanted more.  So then from there they took us into the actual town of Tequila where we toured the Jose Cuervo distillery.  It was really interesting.  First they steam cook the "pineapples" (that's what they call the core of the agave plant after all the leaves have been cut off because it looks kind of like a pineapple).  At this point it's basically turned all the starches and stuff into sugars,  so what was once white is now this great caramel color.  They let us sample pieces of it.  I think I would almost compare it to the meat of a coconut.  But you didn't eat the actual substance, you just sucked out the sugar water, but it was tasty.  They also make this honey product from the sugar water.  It was interesting because it did taste a lot like normal honey, but for some reason it doesn't alter your glucose levels (I think maybe because it's a different form of sugar?  I really don't remember why) so it's totally safe for diabetics.  But that's a tangent-- continuing on with the tequila process now: next they pulverize the steam cooked "pineapples" to get out all the sugar water.  Then they let it ferment and then distill it twice and add distilled water.  That makes regular white/clear tequila.  To get rested tequila(the light amber color), it is stored in white oak barrels for up to four months.  To get aged tequila (darker amber), it is stored for between one and three years, and to get extra-aged (or the darkest amber color), it is stored for between 3 and 5 years.  The darker the color, the more expensive.  So now you know, lol.  It really was super fun though.  You can check out facebook for pictures too :)

Car Wash by Day; Fabulous Las Papas by Night!

That's right.  It's a car wash during the day and a restaurant at night.  Take a moment and imagine.  Yes, it really is as ridiculous as you just pictured it.  Basically it's this normal-looking car wash, but then around nine o'clock at night they put up this fence and start putting out all this plastic tables and chairs and setting up the kitchen.  The kitchen in in the back, so it's on a flat surface, but all the tables and chairs are on an incline, lol.  It's so funny.  The even more outrageous thing is that this is a chain restaurant!  It's not just some small street stand-- it's a legitimate business; it's a full-blown restaurant.  Seriously, they even have a greeter that seats you.  I mean I don't have a car here, thus I've never had it washed there (lol, like I ever even wash my car at home!), so I can't really comment on the caliber of that business, but I really did like the food at Las Papas.  Plus you know it has to be clean, because I just can't see how food coming out of a business that is drenched in soap and water could possibly be dirty.  That's my theory anyway :)  But I would definitely go back for a late night/early morning snack.  Lol, did I forget to mention that they are open til 6 am? Oh the thought of the whole crazy situation just makes me chuckle every time!  I'll have to snap a picture of it's dueling identities so that people will actually believe this tale.  Oh the things you can only experience in Mexico!